The United States has called for the release of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko and stressed the need for the former prime minister to be treated abroad, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Tefft has said.

"Our position is that Ms. Tymoshenko should be allowed to get medical treatment abroad. And Tymoshenko should also be freed, and the same thing concerns Mr. Lutsenko," the diplomat said in an interview with the Korrespondent magazine, which was published on March 15.

He said that Tymoshenko and Lutsenko had been imprisoned as a result of selective prosecution under the pretext of a fight against corruption.

"Look at the names: who, in fact, came under punishment? Are there leaders of, say, the Party of Regions, among them? You constantly write about violations, corruption among those in power, but Ms. Tymoshenko and Mr. Lutsenko were imprisoned for some reason," Tefft said.

As reported, Tymoshenko, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for abuse of office when signing gas contracts with Russia in 2009, has served her term in the Kachanivska Penal Colony since the end of 2011. However, since May 2012 she has been treated at Ukrzaliznytsia's Central Clinical Hospital No. 5 in Kharkiv.

Lutsenko, who was found guilty of committing a number of official crimes and sentenced to four years in prison, has served her sentence in the Mena Penal Colony since August 31, 2012.